Post-October 08, 2005 developments: earthquake hazard studies, seismic monitoring networks, installation of strong motion recorders and geomagnetic observation stations
Qamar- uz- Zaman Chaudhry
Pakistan Meteorological Department, Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistan is situated in a seismically active region that has experienced many disastrous earthquakes. The devastation caused by the Muzaffarabad earthquake of October 08, 2005 (M 7.6), has shocked the public, scientific community, planners and policy-makers. This event has enhanced the consciousness about the increasing vulnerabilities that the growing population is confronted with. It is globally realized that poorly constructed buildings and houses are the main reason for large number of victims due to earthquake. Consequent to the earthquake tragedy, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has taken steps for the modernization of existing seismic network, which will also work as a basic component of early Tsunami warning system. After the Muzaffarabad earthquakes, as a first step, seismic hazard study for Islamabad was conducted in collaboration with Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR). An attenuation and ground acceleration prediction model was developed with the most recently up-dated catalogue. Besides this study of vital national importance, six new state of the art seismic monitoring stations and ten strong motion recorders with full scale ±4g have been established in the country. A national network of ten Broad Band seismic sensors is in the installation phase and which will be linked through satellite. In addition to PMD project, the People’s Republic of China has agreed to develop a Broad Band network in Pakistan. PMD also plans to develop three Geomagnetic Observation stations, which will be the first state of the art observation stations in Pakistan. |
